Despite significant advancements in high blood pressure (hypertension) medicines and the recognition that hypertension is a significant risk factor for the development of heart failure, this condition remains a major cardiovascular disease in the United States. One particular problem with identifying patients at risk for developing hypertensive heart failure is the lack of a rapid screening test to identify patients that have changes occurring in the heart muscle itself secondary to hypertension. With prolonged hypertension, the muscle mass and size of the heart increases, but this may not occur until later in the disease process. One unique and critical event in the progression to hypertensive heart disease and heart failure is that increased fibrosis occurs within the heart muscle itself. The molecular basis for this change remains unknown.